Biology Palm Cards

Good morning Teachers and Students, my name is Issy Thwaites and today I'm going discuss the evolution of elephants and predict the future adaptions they will make to survive in a climate heavily effected by global warming. I will do this by discussing common features of the Proboscidean family that have changed over time, link them to three time periods in which the Proboscideans have lived and finally consider the future for the elephant based on research of past adaptions and current structural benefits.

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The African Elephant is the largest living species of the Proboscidean order. They have been living in Africa since the end of the Pleistocene Epoch (1 million years ago). Although they are often confused with the Asian elephant, we can see their how different they really are in this table.

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The Moeritherium possessed two large teeth that protruded from its upper jaw. These tusks are similar to those we see on elephants today but much shorter. They were most likely used as tools for digging in marshy areas.

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African elephants are the largest land animal in the world. This is useful as they are less targeted by predators. One of the most unique thing about the African Elephant is the length of its legs. African elephants (the desert sub species in particular) have developed longer legs than previous species. Long legs are useful as they are able to walk longer distances in a sparse climate to find food and water.

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The trunk on an African Elephant is very long, and they use it in a similar way to Mastodons. The main difference is, as well as using it to pick up food and water, African elephants also use it to take dust and water baths, a practice which protects them from the sun as well as cooling them. Without their trunk elephants would not be able bathe properly, which could cause health problems, due to the strong sun

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Both male and female African Elephants possess long tusks. It is a vital tool with which, due to their harsh climate, African elephants dig large holes to reach underground water or to pull bark off trees to eat. Tusks are important for fighting predators but also, for males who use their tusks to fight when challenging another bull elephant.

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So what does the future hold for elephants? Food and water will become sparser with the threat of global warming. So I believe that the African Elephant population will increase, in particular the Desert elephant sub species. As they have longest legs of any elephant, so they can cover long distances each day to find nourishment.

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The African elephants' tusks will get thicker as they will be used more often for accessing food. Asian Elephants will find it difficult to survive in a hotter environment, as many of them lack tusks. Heat will also be an issue for elephants as global warming increases. Therefore the size of elephant's ears will also increase, this is because they use their ears to cool down. The bigger the surface area of the ear, the more they will be able to cool.

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Elephants will continue to evolve and change into new species well equipped to live in many different environments. Thankyou

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Elephants belong to an order named the Proboscidean order. Over 55 million years the Proboscidean family has had 352 species of which two remain. The modern day Elephant is divided into two species, the African Elephant and the Asian Elephant.

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Some of the earliest members of the Proboscidean order belonged to the Moeritherium Species of Palaeomastodon Genus, which was a group of semi-aquatic animals that lived in North Africa. They lived 56- 33.9 million years ago during the Eocene epoch.

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Moeritheriums were about the size of a pig. They had short stubby legs and a long body. There stature was useful for the time period they lived in because they often wallowed in swamps and marshes to cool and find food. If they had been larger it would have been hard for them to submerge themselves in the water or eat food from the ground.

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The nose of a Moeritherium, was a long snout type structure. This was joint with a strong upper lip allowing them to pull plants and other objects off the ground with ease. During this time period there was no need for the Moeritherium to have a long trunk, as its head was already close to the ground.

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The Mastodon is a species of proboscidean that lived from the Oligocene Epoch (34 million years ago) to the Pleistocene Epoch (10,000 years ago). By this point, living Proboscidean species had grown to extreme sizes, which is a trend that can be seen in the evolution of all family branches in this order. The Mastodon although similar to modern elephants, was stockier. The reason for this was because they needed more body fat to heat themselves in the extreme cold climate.

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The trunk was an important feature for the Mastodon. It had evolved to become very long and powerful. The reason for the trunks growth is due to the animal's size, without it mastodons would have to bend down to drink water or pick up food, putting them in a vulnerable position. By having an elongated snout they were able to stay alert while feeding.

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One of the biggest and most important tools for a Mastodon was its tusks. Mastodons had very long straight tusks reaching up to 5 meters in length. Mastodons used their tusks to break and move trees to find food, males also used them for fighting each other to prove dominance.

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